We removed some very elderly shrubs and some rather sick large escallonias
last autumn from some metre plus wide borders and would be grateful for
suggestions as to what to replace them with. Preferably evergreen,
flowering or just attractive foliage and shape.

The location is south Devon, about 800 metres from the coast, on a
relatively exposed hill. Two borders receive full sun for around 2/3 of
the day and another for 1/3 of the day. Frosts of any significance are
rare (even this winter) but high winds are fairly frequent. We are on the
edge of the Devon Redlands and the soil has a fairly high clay content.
Existing planting includes various conifers, pieris, mahonia, various
broom, eryngium, photinia davidiana, some large phormium, a couple of
surviving escallonia gold ellen, various euonymous, fatsia jopinica,
skimmia, berberis darwinii.

--
rbel

In article ,
says...
The message
from rbel contains these words:


We removed some very elderly shrubs and some rather sick large escallonias
last autumn from some metre plus wide borders and would be grateful for
suggestions as to what to replace them with. Preferably evergreen,
flowering or just attractive foliage and shape.

The location is south Devon, about 800 metres from the coast, on a
relatively exposed hill. Two borders receive full sun for around 2/3 of
the day and another for 1/3 of the day. Frosts of any significance are
rare (even this winter) but high winds are fairly frequent. We are on the
edge of the Devon Redlands and the soil has a fairly high clay content.
Existing planting includes various conifers, pieris, mahonia, various
broom, eryngium, photinia davidiana, some large phormium, a couple of
surviving escallonia gold ellen, various euonymous, fatsia jopinica,
skimmia, berberis darwinii.

You could try the larger leaved hebes, which flower heavily for many
months.
Choisya ternata (handsome evergreen foliage, fragrant white flowers)
Lonicera nitida Baggeson's Gold ( very small evergreen gold leaves,
a good contrast to other foliage)
Cornus alba elegantissima (variegated foliage, not evergreen but
attractive red stems in winter)

Janet




Add to that Hollies and Eleagnus
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

"rbel" wrote in message
news

We removed some very elderly shrubs and some rather sick large escallonias
last autumn from some metre plus wide borders and would be grateful for
suggestions as to what to replace them with. Preferably evergreen,
flowering or just attractive foliage and shape.

The location is south Devon, about 800 metres from the coast, on a
relatively exposed hill. Two borders receive full sun for around 2/3 of
the day and another for 1/3 of the day. Frosts of any significance are
rare (even this winter) but high winds are fairly frequent. We are on the
edge of the Devon Redlands and the soil has a fairly high clay content.
Existing planting includes various conifers, pieris, mahonia, various
broom, eryngium, photinia davidiana, some large phormium, a couple of
surviving escallonia gold ellen, various euonymous, fatsia jopinica,
skimmia, berberis darwinii.

--
rbel

If you really want to push your luck, find the most sheltered site from the
wind and frost, and put in a plant of Gardenia jasminoides "Kleims Hardy".

It's only a single flower, and seems to me slightly less scented than the
double-flowered houseplant (but that could just be because it's usually
cooler!). But it has survived this and last winter in a just frost-free
greenhouse (minimum of 1°) without a mark on it.

--

Jeff

On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:29:14 -0000, Charlie Pridham
wrote:

In article ,
says...
The message
from rbel contains these words:


We removed some very elderly shrubs and some rather sick large
escallonias
last autumn from some metre plus wide borders and would be grateful
for
suggestions as to what to replace them with. Preferably evergreen,
flowering or just attractive foliage and shape.

The location is south Devon, about 800 metres from the coast, on a
relatively exposed hill. Two borders receive full sun for around 2/3
of
the day and another for 1/3 of the day. Frosts of any significance
are
rare (even this winter) but high winds are fairly frequent. We are
on the
edge of the Devon Redlands and the soil has a fairly high clay
content.
Existing planting includes various conifers, pieris, mahonia, various
broom, eryngium, photinia davidiana, some large phormium, a couple of
surviving escallonia gold ellen, various euonymous, fatsia jopinica,
skimmia, berberis darwinii.

You could try the larger leaved hebes, which flower heavily for many
months.
Choisya ternata (handsome evergreen foliage, fragrant white flowers)
Lonicera nitida Baggeson's Gold ( very small evergreen gold leaves,
a good contrast to other foliage)
Cornus alba elegantissima (variegated foliage, not evergreen but
attractive red stems in winter)

Janet


Add to that Hollies and Eleagnus


Many thanks for the suggestions to date. When I listed some of the
existing plants I forgot that we had choisia ternata (and the yellow
Sundance variety) and lonicera nitida Baggeson's Gold, but all the other
ideas are new to us.


--
rbel

On Fri, 19 Mar 2010 21:50:56 -0000, Chris Hogg wrote:

On Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:09:10 -0000, rbel wrote:


We removed some very elderly shrubs and some rather sick large
escallonias
last autumn from some metre plus wide borders and would be grateful for
suggestions as to what to replace them with. Preferably evergreen,
flowering or just attractive foliage and shape.

The location is south Devon, about 800 metres from the coast, on a
relatively exposed hill. Two borders receive full sun for around 2/3 of
the day and another for 1/3 of the day. Frosts of any significance are
rare (even this winter) but high winds are fairly frequent. We are on
the
edge of the Devon Redlands and the soil has a fairly high clay content.
Existing planting includes various conifers, pieris, mahonia, various
broom, eryngium, photinia davidiana, some large phormium, a couple of
surviving escallonia gold ellen, various euonymous, fatsia jopinica,
skimmia, berberis darwinii.

I'm also by the sea and exposed to salt gales, but further west than
you. Minimum temps in my garden typically -2C. I have/had in my
garden:

Pittisporums, and in particular P. tobira, which has larger leaves
than P. tenuifolium. White flowers with orange blossom scent.
Buddleja colvilei, pendant panicles of large rose-red flowers
Cistus species and vars.
Callistemon species and varieties, esp. c. citrinus, gorgeous red
bottlebrushes with yellow anthers, but I lost mine last year at -6C.
Correa species, but ditto.
Euryops pectinatus. Bright yellow flowers, long season, but ditto.
Kunzea baxteri, but ditto.
Echium pininana, tall fox-tail up to 15ft (much higher on Tresco!),
covered in thousands of small pale blue borage-like flowers. Bees love
them. E. candicans syn. E. fastuosum is a shrubby species with shorter
candles of flowers, purple-blue in the best forms, slightly more
tender than e. pininata. But ditto.
Leptospermum scoparium vars. esp. Red Damask
Olearia scilloniensis, masses of brilliant white daisy flowers in
summer (but the flowers don't last long and it looks a bit sad when
they die!)
Raphiolepis vars.
Teucrium fruticans
Camellias do surprisingly well in exposed gardens by the sea, but some
varieties prefer shade or the leaves go yellow. Others are OK in full
sun. Like a humus-rich neutral to acid soil.
Cytisus battanderei, pineapple broom, bright yellow flowers in summer,
smelling of pineapple.
Myrtus communis tarentina is a small-growing myrtle
Hamamelis mollis
Perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian sage)
Phlomis fruticosa
Lavatera arborea
Senecio greyii
Rosmarinus vars
Ceanothus vars
Cassinia fulvida
Genista hispanica
Viburnum tinus



Looking that lot up should keep you out of trouble for a day or two!
Some may get too big for your situation.
Remember that young plants in exposed situations need staking until
they get established. I have to use at least two stakes, sometimes
three in a triangular arrangement.



Many thanks

From an initial look through I have noted the Pittisporum tobira, Euryops
and the Cytisus battandieri. We have tried batches of Echium Snow Tower,
Pink Fountain, Wildpretii and Blue Steeple repeatedly over the last four
years in increasingly gritty soil mixes but only managed to overwinter one
which we then lost this winter.

--
rbel

On 2010-03-20 20:32:53 +0000, rbel said:


We removed some very elderly shrubs and some rather sick large escallonias
last autumn from some metre plus wide borders and would be grateful for
suggestions as to what to replace them with. Preferably evergreen,
flowering or just attractive foliage and shape.

How good is bay (Lauris nobilis) at growing near the sea? All of
the above, plus useful, though its flowers are short-lived and not
spectacular.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

wrote in message
...
On 2010-03-20 20:32:53 +0000, rbel said:


We removed some very elderly shrubs and some rather sick large
escallonias
last autumn from some metre plus wide borders and would be grateful
for
suggestions as to what to replace them with. Preferably evergreen,
flowering or just attractive foliage and shape.

How good is bay (Lauris nobilis) at growing near the sea? All of
the above, plus useful, though its flowers are short-lived and not
spectacular.



Very good. we have them popping up like weeds. Have them in hedges and one
as a specimen. Needs hard pruning every year to keep its shape.

We are within 150 metres of the sea. South facing garden in Sandown Bay
south east part of the Isle of Wight. (I wish a few more people stated where
they are)

Mike


--
Base for a Botanic visit to the Isle of Wight?
www.shanklinmanormews.co.uk

On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:43:04 -0000, wrote:

On 2010-03-20 20:32:53 +0000, rbel said:


We removed some very elderly shrubs and some rather sick large
escallonias
last autumn from some metre plus wide borders and would be grateful
for
suggestions as to what to replace them with. Preferably evergreen,
flowering or just attractive foliage and shape.

How good is bay (Lauris nobilis) at growing near the sea? All of
the above, plus useful, though its flowers are short-lived and not
spectacular.



At our previous place, where the sea was just the other side of the road,
we had an inherited bay that was probably over 3 metres tall but apart
from occasional raid for culinary use it was not a favourite shrub.


--
rbel